Improvement in gang-plows



PETER CNRATH, OF FREEBURG, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT IN GANc-PLows.

To all whom it may concern.-

the tongue and body pass through slots cut Be it known that I, PETER CONRATH, `of with the longitudinal length of said' beam, and

Freeburg, in the county of St. Clair and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Self-Adjusting Carriage `Gang-Flows; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, andexact description thereof, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, and to the letters of'reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

The nature of my invention consists in providing carriage gang-plows with levers to be operated by the feet of the driver while he is seated on the machine, to raise or lower the plowshares,as desired; also, providing for such plows a system of levers to be operatedby the hands ofthe driver, without his leaving his seat, Ito, force the pl owshares into the ground to any depth desired; also, providing such machines with means by which the driver, without quitting hisseat, can give the plow'share more or less land-that is to say, regulate the width of thefurrow; also, in adj Listing the several parts balanced on their axles, and thus relieve the of such machines so that they are perfectly animals drawing the machine of a considerable and disadvantageously-diffiised weight;

. also, in arranging the plows so that there will be no side draft, and each plow may operate independently of the other plow in the same machine, all of which will more fully hereinafter appear.

To enable those skilled in the art tov make and use myinvention, I will now proceed to more fully describe it. v -rIn the drawings, Figure l is a perspective View of my invention. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same, and Figs. 3 and 4 are views of parts ofthe said invention.

Like parts are indicated by the saine letters in the different figures shown in the drawings and referredito in this description.

`A isthe tongue of the carriage.

B and B are wheels, and have independent axles C, connected by suitable means to the bodyX of the carriage, andby braces b to the slides E.

Above tongue A and below bodyX, and held in position by screw-bolts and taps fff, connected with the said tongue A and body X, is beam F. The bolts connecting beam F with have their heads on the under side of the beam F and their screw ends on the upper side of the body X secured by taps f, which are provided withhandles, so that the assistance of a wrench is dispensed with when it is desirable to change the position of beam F. This change is' made by the driver, and may be made without the driver leaving his seat or stopping the machine, by simply turning up the taps f, and thus loosening the hold of the screw-bolts on the beam F, which is then readily-slid to the right or left of thedriver, and carries with it the slides or guides E, which are firmly. se cured `in a suitable manner to beam F, and the movement of the said slides E is communicatedto the plows which have their beams D resting inthe slides E; and by thus altering the position ofthe plows by moving beam F the width ofthe furrow of the front plow'(or the rear plow when operated singly) may be regulated, and consequently the width of the land plowed by the gang-plow thus constructed is` increased or decreased, 'and by turning down 'the taps f the beam F'is'held in position.. The slidesor guides E serve to hold the plow-beams D stead ily ina forward course, and at the same time allow them avertical play as the position of the plowshares may call for. The plow-beams D have their forward ends resting in slides or guides E, and are prevented from slipping out of said slides E by means of shoulders on said beams, or other convenient means. A brace or band, has its ends let in beams D-onev of the ends in either beam-but fitting looselyl therein, and serving to prevent the jamming together of the plows. The plow-beams D` are connected by chainsG to the treadle-levers I-I and H, that have foot-boards h and h. n The driver, from his seat K, by pressing his, foot on the foot-boards 7i and l1. till they catch under the metal springs lc and 7c', secured to the brace Q, that is fastened to the tongue A, lifts the plows off the ground, and they are held off the ground While being transported from place to place by the springs 7c and k holding the levers H and H in position, and by forcing the springs 7c and k from their hold on levers H II( the weight of the plows will carry the levers II into the position occupied by lever II in Fig. l, and the plows will rest on the ground. The same gure shows the, position the plow is in when not in use and ready for transportation, (see lever H.)

L L are levers having their fulcrums on bolts secured to body X, (shown at Z l in Fig. 2,) and secured at their lower ends to levers M, which have their other ends connected with the vplow-beams D, (shown in Fig. l at mf,) and the driver, by pushing forward the levers L, forces back and downwardlevers M, and they force plewsh ares P into the ground, even to a depth of ten or twelve inches. In raising or lowering the plows great assistance is derived from the combined action of theslides N and grooved metal boxes O. (Shown in detail in Figs. 3 and 4.)

A is the rear end of the tongue of the earriage,to which grooved box O is secured by a bolt or suitable means passing through its center, and on which it freely oscillatcs. This box O has a dovetailcd groove running its whole length, into which a dovetailed sliding rod, N, enters, which is attached at its lower end by a bolt to the plow-beam D, and as the plow is raised or lowered the rod N turns on said boltJ to suit any angle it may assume in sliding through the groove in box O; for as the rod N ascends or descends an oscillating motion is communicated to box O. These boxes O are thus seen to serve as guides to the plows in raising orloweringthem, as well as to hold the plows steady during the operation of plowing.

To operate my 1nachine,the power is hitched to the double-tree R, and as only the cross-bar S, secured to the clevis s of the plow-beam, chan ores its position, the plows may be readily raised or lowered, the one independent of the other, as it may be desired, while working the machine. The power having been connected to the machine and driven into position with both plows off the ground, like the plow connected with lever H, (shown in Fig. 1,) the driver pushes with his feet against springs k and L', when the foot-boards lL and h are thus let loose, and the levers H and H,bcing moved by the weight of the plows, assume the position of lever H. (Shown in Fig. l.) The machine is now drawn forward, and, as is seen, the power being applied directly to the plowbeams D, there is no side draft,77 which fact, when accompanied by the fact that thc machine is evenly balanced on its axle, results in an easy and smooth movement in the operation of my machine. rlhe plows are guided by the slides E, rods N working in grooved boxes O. New, if desired, the driver pushes the levers L forward by their handles, which, through means of rods M, force plowshares P into the ground the required depth, and, by reversing this motion the plowshares are withdrawn; then, if it is necessary, the driver turns up the taps f, slides the beam F to the right or left, as he may desire, to make the furrow narrower or wider, then quickly turns down the taps j and firmly secures beam F, and by reversing this operation the width of the furrow first cut may be cut again.

The position of the machine as shown in Fig. 2 will be the position it will occupy before it goes through the operation just described. From this it will be seen that the principal advantages of. my self-adjusting carriage gang-plow over other inventions in the same class consist in the simple and effective means I provide, by which the driver, by operating from his seat, can save greatly in time and labor in regulating the width and depth of the furrows, and operating the plows independently of each other, as well as its lightness of structure, enabling the owner of it to accomplish a greater amount of work than can be accomplished with any other machine of its class; and the eheapness of my invention, compared with other carriage gang-plows, results from its parts being made mostly of wood, and of extreme simplicity.

A great advantage is also obtained by placing one of the wheels B before the other, as shown in Fig. 2, by reason of which arrangement a perfect balance of the machine is secured.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. rlhc taps and boltsf, beam F, and guides E, when constructed and operating substantially in the manner and for the purposes set forth.

2. A self-adjusting carriage gan gplow, with plows I, levers H, spring-catches k, and chains G, sliding rods N ,and grooved boxes O, levers L and M, and taps and-bolts f, beam F, and guides E, constructed and operating substantially in the manner and 'for the purposes set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

PETER CONRATH.

\\/`itnesses:

HENRY SERTH, JOHN B. WILSON. 

